Place:Moreton Valence, Gloucestershire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

Moreton Valence is a civil parish near Stroud in Gloucestershire, England. It is bounded on the west by the River Severn, on the north by the parishes of Longney and Haresfield, on the southeast by Standish and on the southwest by Whitminster.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Moreton Valence from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"MORETON-VALENCE, a parish, with a scattered village, in Wheatenhurst district, Gloucester; on the Gloucester and Berkeley canal, 2½ miles WSW of Haresfield [railway] station, and 3½ NNW of Stonehouse. Post town: Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. Acres: 1,432; of which 33 are water. Real property: £3,972; of which £250 are in the canal, and £520 in railways. Population: 337. Houses: 75. The property is much subdivided. Standish House belongs to Lord Sherborne, and is occupied by R. Potter, Esq. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value: £85. Patron: the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. The church is chiefly later English; consists of nave, S aisle, and chancel, with a tower; and was recently repaired. A section of the parish, which contained a population of 180 in 1861, is within Framilode chapelry."

Moreton Valence is northeast of Fretherne-with-Saul and southwest of Hardwicke and Quedgeley.

Registration Districts

Wheatenhurst (1837 - 1937)
Gloucester Rural (1937 - 1974)
Gloucester (post-1974) (1974 - 2006)
Gloucestershire (2006 - )

Research Tips

• Gloucestershire Archives in Gloucester is where paper and microfilm copies of all records for this part of Gloucestershire are stored.

Online sources which may also be helpful:

• The Victoria History of Gloucestershire chapter on Moreton Valence, available online on the website British History Online.
• GENUKI gives pointers to other archive sources as well as providing some details on each parish in the county. The emphasis here is on ecclesiastical parishes (useful before 1837)
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 and tables of the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Respect the copyright on this material.
• The FamilySearch Wiki for Gloucestershire provides a similar but not identical series of webpages to that provided by GENUKI
• A Vision of Britain through Time has a group of pages of statistical facts for almost every parish in the county